voulez vous du champagne?

Reims, oh Reims, why are you so amazing? I had a weekend full of food, fun, and champagne! What a life I have.

It started off with a bang, when once again, SNCF decided to throw us a curve ball by canceling our connecting train. What to do when you are stuck in a random small impoverished city in rural France with no hope of escape? Why, go into the nearest café and find someone sober to drive you Reims! Luckily a gentleman was kind enough to take us the rest of the way for only the price of gas. We made it to Reims and quickly devoured kebabs to pacify our sorrows.

Soon enough, we were safely in the hands of our Couchsurfing hosts. GG hosted Christine and I, and Thomas hosted L and R. We headed to a bar close by to taste the local beer! Many of the others in the couchsurfing circle in Reims joined us, which was lots of fun. We got along swimmingly with our hosts – it was so refreshing to meet such a friendly group of young French people.

The next day we took advantage of all Reims had to offer; we had a lazy lunch at a café in the sunshine, basking in the glory that is horrible customer service and sitting for hours around the table. After walking all around the center of town, we went inside the stunning cathedral. We all agreed that it was more beautiful than Notre Dame in Paris – there is even a vivid Chagall vitrine at the nave of the church. As the sun set over Reims, we sat on a bench and watched the sky turn shades of magnificent blues, oranges, pinks, and golds. GG came to meet us and take us to Happy Hour, where we discussed plans for an evening celebrating Halloween – in France!

After we made dinner for GG, the couchsurfers took us out dancing! We went to a bar ambiance – which was totally decked out for the Halloween. The V-crew (Verdun crew) got a little crazy; the overwhelming furor came over us when we saw crowds of people our age and heard good dance music. Classics such as MJ were played, French pop Discobitch, and the night ended with Frank Sinatra New York, New York, a personal favorite.

The next day we crawled out of bed, running around Reims with our rolling suitcases trailing behind us, rushing to get to the Mumm champagne house tour. The fact that it was daylight savings time got us all in a little tizzy, but we made it just the same. The maison was exquisite, and the champagne was delicious! We felt like stars as we sipped and laughed about our amazing and fabulous destin.

After a sad parting with our hosts, we (eventually) got home and went right to sleep – there is only so much fun a girl can handle after spending a month in Verdun.

Merci à GG et les autres pour un très beau séjour à Reims!

*Pictures copyright C and L*